Ragnarök's Call

For the Office of the Director

26

JAN/09

After Action Report

**

Agent Name: Langley, Jason XXX.XX.1457

Affiliation: Bureau of Intelligence and Research

Assignment: Venice, Italy – Attached to Agent Horner

Event Synopsis: 2/25/98 – Agent Horner and I were paged at approximately 0230 with a call of an occurrance in St. Mark’s Square. Local authorities were already in place containing situation. Several US nationals had been rounded up and put into quarantine by the AISI. Agent Horner and I immediately began negotiations with the Italian Consulate to have those detainees released to us or, failing that, at least allow us interviews with the detainees. The AISI released the names of the American citizens to us: [INFORMATION REDACTED]

3/2/98 – After nearly a week of stonewalling our investigation and denying the detainees any rights under the guise of their ‘medical quarantine’. Agent Horner and I were allowed to speak with the detainees concerning the events of 2/25/98. We had little time to prepare for the briefing but were able to cobble together a collection of news footage from the night of 2/25/98 and the following week. The footage gave a very general impression about what had happened with The Galatea crash and the radiation that entered the atmosphere. We were surprised to find that one of the captives was an Italian national who had, apparently, not been kept with the other Italian civilians that were detained. His name was provided. We answered as many questions as we could and assured the citizens that their families would be notified of their relative safety and that we would work around the clock to have them released into US custody. It was during this time that I placed a tracking system on one of the American citizens so that we would be informed if the Italians tried to move them.

3/3/98 – Agent Horner and I were paged at approximately 0100 with a call that the US nationals had escaped the custody of the AISI and were considered fugitives from the law. There were also reports from local officials about a ‘creature’ creating havoc throughout the town proper. Agent Horner and I worked closely with local police but were unable to peaceably apprehend the suspects at that time. They fled to the mainland and into the Venetian countryside.

3/5/98 – After receiving the uplinked tracking information from HQ we found that the tracking system that had been placed was still functioning and was now transmitting from the Swiss Alps just north of the Italian border. It appeared the subject (it was unclear, at that time, whether the group had remained together) had boarded a train bound for Salzburg. That train had been stopped and searched by the AISI, and the American fugitives escaped capture a second time. This intelligence was not freely shared by the AISI as dictated as protocol by UN Accord 1455, Article 22.3, section 4.2.3. Agent Horner and I were en route to the location when we received a call from HQ that the tracking system was on the move, no longer by foot and heading East and quickly leaving Swiss airspace. We continued to track the system until it came to rest on the Caspian Sea near the Kazakhstani town of Gurjev.

At this point, Agent Horner and I, along with our Deputy Director, came to the conclusion that the Americans were now hostages to a hostile third party. Whether that party was state-sponsored was not yet evident. We began preparations for a hostile evac operation immediately. Agent Horner handled the proper diplomatic channels. I was in charge of gathering the assets needed for the strike. In total the assets I requisitioned for the operation were: [INFORMATION REDACTED]

3/7/98 – Operation Ghost left Ankara Air Force Base at 0100. Agent Horner was in Washington. Operation Ghost arrived at the theater of operations at approximately 0700. The installation was a former Soviet base. The complement of troops stationed there at the time of the operation were too well trained and outfitted to be Kazakhstani. A private paramilitary or terrorist organization seems likely. A beachhead was established by gunships and a forward base was setup while the infantry and mobile armor began sweeping the compound with gunship support. The installation turned out to be more heavily guarded than anyone anticipated or was shown by satellite intel. American casualties were higher than expected but not outside of acceptable losses. As we were encroaching on the central compound a lone truck approached the forward base. It was traveling swiftly as if being pursued but did not seem to be a threat. Visual confirmation of the American hostages allowed the truck to pass through the gate into the forward base. With the packages safely retrieved, the mobile armor and infantry fell back to defensive positions and aggressive suppression was engaged by the AC-130H. The citizens were accompanied by two other hostages, neither of local nationality.

The citizens were transported to Ankara Air Force base and placed on a C-17 Globemaster bound for Washington DC. They were debriefed and released. The non-American nationals were put into the care of FBI, until their host consulates could collect them.

END REPORT

EYES ONLY: DIRECTOR

All of the captives from Operation Ghost exhibited traits and symptoms that were consistent with recent eruption. The non-American nationals were also exhibiting similar symptoms, though the Swedish citizen had obviously been the victim of some kind of macabre experimentation by their captors. It appears that one of the Americans, [INFORMATION REDACTED], had been scheduled for an invasive procedure involving the brain but had escaped before it could be performed. No indication was given by the agency as to our knowledge of any of these matters.

Several weeks later each of the Venetian detainees was invited to a gala event hosted by the Aeon Society. It was during this event, that the creation of Project Eden was unveiled and each member of the Venetian 5, plus the Romanian national, were offered a position within the organization. To the best of our knowledge, all accepted.